If Summit Doesn’t Go Over Big, Obama Has Plan to Go Small

By James A. White

As expectations hover at low levels for the outcome of today’s bipartisan health summit, the Obama White House is preparing a modest overhaul proposal in case more-sweeping plans remain stalled in Congress.

The fallback plan would extend health insurance to around 15 million people by expanding current federal-state programs, the WSJ reports this morning. Insurers also would be required to allow family members to stay on their parents’ health-care plans up to age 26, it says.

No final decisions have been made on proceeding with the trimmed-down plan, which would mark a sharp retreat in scope from earlier Democratic measures. Differing overhaul bills approved by both the House and the Senate would expand coverage to some 31 million Americans and the president’s own omnibus proposal unveiled Monday maintained the same target to take a bigger bite out of the 46 million uninsured population.

Obama’s proposal indicated the president isn’t ready to throw in the towel on a comprehensive plan, despite urging by a key aide, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. to think about a “skinny bill.”

The WSJ said Emanuel didn’t devise the more modest package, which would provided added coverage through expansion of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to one person familiar with the ideas.

With few positive results expected from today’s confab, congressional Democrats also are looking beyond the session, but hoping Obama will bring more forceful leadership to the health-care fight, according to the Washington Post this morning. “Only if the president is willing to take command of the debate, Democrats in both chambers said, will a health-care reform bill have any chance of reaching his desk,” the WaPo reported.